Enthusiasm for Maori tour

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 42

Enthusiasm for Maori tour

NZPA staff corres. Cape Town The New Zealand Maori rugby captain, Tane Norton, sees a visit to South Africa by a Maori team next year as a breakthrough for Maori Rugby in New Zealand. “This is a tremendous development for Maori rugby, which in, recent years has been restricted to tours of Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji,” Norton said, after a training run with the All Blacks yesterday. “We have a good team at present, but this will be a big incentive for the players to develop even further,” he said.

A rugby enthusiast whose season is packed full with matches of all descriptions, Norton sees the strength of All Black rugby in recent years as coinciding with the commitment to Maori rugby of players such as Kent Lambert and Bill Bush. “There are more Maori players sticking on in the

game now,” Norton said. “In the past, there have not always been the players who have played Maori rugby after becoming All Blacks.” Norton believes that a great deal of the credit for the resurgence in Maori rugby belongs to Waka Nathan, the former All Black flanker, and to the work of the Maori Advisory Board. “The work being done at the top is tremendous for Maori rugby,” Norton said. “Next year’s tour of South Africa is a great boost. Anything is possible after this invitation. Think of the incentive it will give the players selected for the tests against the Western Samoan side this season.” The Western Samoan team will play matches against the New Zealand Maoris at Rotorua on July 17 and against Auckland on July 24 —with the South African visit of six

to eight matches likely to occur in the early part of next season. Maori players playing in the Western Samoan tests will be on trial for the South African visit. “We might also have a match against the Lions visiting after the South Africa trip, so it will be big season for Maori rugby,” Norton said.

The president of the South African Rugby Board (Dr Danie Craven) said when confirming the visit that it would involve six to eight matches, with the strong Transvaal union acting as tour host. Final details of the tour have yet to be arranged between the New Zealand and South African rugby authorities, but it is expected that the Maoris will take part in official opening ceremonies of the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria.